Vermette leads Jackets past Hawks

Blue Jackets Hockey

Vermette leads Jackets past Hawks (3/18/09)
by Dave Seaman, Columbus Wired

R.J. Umberger heard the rumors that the Columbus Blue Jackets were interested in Antoine Vermette and his mouth began to water.

The Ohio State product and Jackets forward crossed his fingers and got his wish as Vermette was traded to Columbus and now plays on a line along side him.

Umberger fed Vermette 2:38 into overtime to lead the Jackets past the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in front of 15,190 in Nationwide Arena Wednesday night.

“Antoine and I see each other on the ice; where we are at before we get the puck,” Umberger said. “Jake (Voracek) was a good compliment tonight. He’s been playing well, so he added a lot tonight to the line.”

Rostislav Klesla fed the puck up ice to Umberger, who saw Vermette skating hard towards the goal. Umberger pulled up and fed Vermette in the open ice and beat Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet between the chest and arm for his first game-winner in over a year.

“I just tried to work hard and tried to go to the net,” Vermette said. “R.J. put a perfect pass there on my stick and I just tried to get a good shot at it and I found a way to put it in.”

Vermette has collected points in five of six games (4-3-7) and the Jackets are 5-0 when he records a point. He has three goals against the Blackhawks in two games.

Umberger added a goal while Rick Nash and Derek Dorsett also scored for the Jackets, who tied a franchise mark with their 80th point of the season.

Columbus is 7-3 in their last 10 and has won four of five. They remain in sixth place in the Western Conference with a six-point cushion on eighth place.

Steve Mason stopped 24 shots to improve to 29-17-3.

Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock called the game, “hard and bizarre,”

“Everyone had their moments today, good and bad,” he said. “We created a lot of chances, especially on the power play, with a really simple mentality. We did a really good job in the offensive zone of controlling it.”

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and assist to lead Chicago, while David Bolland also scored in the loss.

The Blackhawks nearly repeated the Jackets’ feat on Friday by scoring a minute into the game. Bolland took a pass from Andrew Ladd and went high stick side on Mason. Vermette scored 45 seconds in the Jackets’ 5-3 win at the United Center Friday night.

Columbus tied the game 2:30 later when Voracek centered a pass to Umberger, who backhanded the puck through his legs and past Huet.

The Jackets defense then stepped up by allowing no shots in a four-minute penalty kill to keep the score knotted at one. The penalty was on Fedor Tyutin, who spent eight minutes in the sin bin over the first two periods,

“It was unnerving, but it turned our intensity to a new level,” Hitchcock said. “We did a much better job killing penalties because of our effort, intensity and communication.”

Dorsett put the Jackets ahead at 11:09 on a rebound off a Marc Methot shot from the blue line. Methot received the puck off a face-off won by Michael Peca.

Kane tied the game at two off a centering pass from Troy Brouwer at 17:48. Toews then put the Blackhawks up 3-2 on a shot deflected off the foot of Jan Hejda at 9:50 of the second.

Nash retied the game less than minute later when he hit a wrist shot from the near board that breezed behind the helmet of Huet. Afterwards, Huet shook his head in disbelief as Nash celebrated his 34th of the season.

“We were up 3-2 and they scored to tie it 3-3 right away,” Kane said. “It’s a pretty unfortunate thing, but at the same time there were some good things we can take out of tonight.”

Columbus outshot Chicago 28-27 and went 0-for-5 on the power play. Chicago scored one power play goal on seven opportunities. Huet stopped 24 shots.

The Jackets travel to the Sunshine State to play Florida Saturday at 7 p.m. and Tampa Bay on Tuesday before returning home to host Calgary on March 26.